


Possibilities

by tornyourdress



Category: Have I Got News For You RPF
Genre: M/M, Morning After
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:28:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24445078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tornyourdress/pseuds/tornyourdress
Summary: When Ian wakes up next to Paul, naked, he decides they must have been playing strip poker.
Relationships: Ian Hislop/Paul Merton
Kudos: 6





	Possibilities

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Jen (Jekesta), 2004.

Ian was alarmed – but not entirely surprised – to find himself waking up beside Paul. He peeked under the covers just to make sure, and yes, they were both naked. They both had their socks on – how unromantic, he thought, if either of them had been a woman the socks would no doubt have been removed – but apart from that, yes, naked.

He knew that this didn’t have to mean anything. It wasn’t necessarily conclusive. It was entirely possible that they’d just collapsed into bed without actually _doing_ anything. It was entirely possible that the clothes had been removed for a reason unconnected to sex. Strip poker! That _had_ to be it. They’d been playing strip poker. 

He couldn’t remember the night before, not much of it, which was definitely a bad sign. He must have been horribly, horribly drunk. The headache and nausea that were starting to hit him definitely agreed with that assessment. But, he thought, clinging to this thought like a lifeline, that meant that he would have been in no fit state to actually do anything. Anything with Paul. They couldn’t have actually had sex. No. Definitely not.

All right, so he did feel a little tender in certain regions of his body that didn’t really feel tender unless they had a particular reason to do so, but that didn’t have to mean anything, did it? It could be entirely unconnected. Maybe he had sat on something painful. Wasn’t that an equally plausible explanation?

Because, really, when he thought about it, why would he have had sex with Paul? Not that he’d never considered it, of course. Because he had. Several times. And thought about it. Quite a lot. But doing those things didn’t mean that he actually wanted to do it. He knew that he shouldn’t. 

He had, after all, felt so guilty after the last time that this had happened, so why on earth would he want to repeat the incident? 

But then why had he let himself get so drunk, around Paul? He knew he had to be careful around Paul, and he was usually good at it, avoiding the possibility of ending up in a situation like this. 

Not that it was a situation. Not really. No, it was just a simple matter of him having been too drunk to make his way home the night before, and of having removed his clothes before getting into bed. Lots of people slept that way, after all.

Rain! Maybe it had been raining, and they’d been caught in it, and been soaked to the skin, and had to remove their clothes. That, now that he thought about it, was the only possible explanation. It had been raining and they’d been soaking wet, so they’d taken off their clothes. It was late, so Ian had stayed. They had of course slept in the same bed, because the couch was covered in newspapers and magazines and dirty clothes and empty biscuit packets and therefore unsuitable as a sleeping place for someone in no fit state to set about cleaning. 

If he were to creep out now, he thought, they could both pretend it never happened. Not that anything had happened, of course, but it was best to avoid even the possibility of considering that something might have happened. If Paul woke up alone, he’d have no reason to question the events of the night before, and perhaps he hadn’t been as drunk, and he’d remember anyway. Remember that nothing had happened. Yes. 

His clothes were drier than one might expect from clothes caught in the rain, but they had had the whole night to dry, he reminded himself. He dressed quickly and let himself out, closing the door behind him as quietly as he could.


End file.
